Kansas Municipal News
How a movie shot 40 years ago in Kansas changed the trajectory of the nuclear arms race
More than 100 million people gathered around their television sets 40 years ago to watch a mushroom cloud rise over a Midwestern town. The ABC broadcast of “The Day After” was one of the most watched television movies of all time. The film won two Emmy Awards, was nominated for 10 others and is widely credited with changing public opinion about the arms race during the Cold War. The grim portrayal of the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shook up audiences at the time. The message even reached then-President Ronald Reagan. “It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia,” the former actor later wrote in his diary. “It is powerfully done — all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed.” A new documentary directed by Jeff Daniels details the making of the film. Liberty Hall in Lawrence will host a screening and discussion of the documentary, “Television Event,” on Monday evening. It explores the 1983 movie’s impact and legacy, and looks back at the many challenges the cast and crew faced during filming. Daniels’ new work also digs into the many battles with network censors and politicians as the film was being made. Filmed on-location in Lawrence and Kansas City, the movie made use of more than 2,000 local residents who played extras alongside well-known actors like Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, and John Lithgow.
Source: KCUR News
Wichita approves spending to ensure there aren’t any lead pipes in water system
The City of Wichita is taking an inventory of its water system. City Council members approved spending nearly half a million dollars to finish that process. One goal is to make sure there aren’t any lead pipes in the city’s water system. In 2021, the EPA introduced requirements water utilities have to meet by October of next year. That includes requiring cities to identify which pipes have lead in them. The City of Wichita has started looking for lead pipes that might still be in the system. The City has been replacing lead lines since the 90s as they found them but has never had a complete inventory. The program manager with Public Works and Utilities says they need to hire outside consultants to finish the inventory and create a plan to replace any lead lines they find. They’ll also be testing for lead in running water inside homes. “We want to make sure everything from the meter to the house is not lead, and that’s where the testing comes in,” said City Councilmember Brandon Johnson. Johnson says the city is focusing on older parts of town that are likely to include parts of Districts 1, 3, 4 and 6. The city is only required to replace lead pipes leading up to a home’s water meter. Anything past that is the responsibility of the homeowner. The city is also expanding the amount of testing it’s doing inside homes. Currently, 50 homes are being sampled every three years. That’s set to increase to 100 homes every six months.
Source: KSN-TV
Wichita to spend nearly $10 million to increase police pay, boost recruitment
Wichita Police Department officers are set to be among the best paid law enforcement officers in Kansas. The Wichita City Council approved nearly $10 million in unplanned pay hikes and bonuses over the next two years while increasing investment in a rewards program that police consulting firm Jensen Hughes said should be ended. In exchange, the Fraternal Order of Police has agreed to implement one Jensen Hughes recommendation, no longer requiring the city to let officers review an entire internal-investigation file before answering questions about their conduct. That change will remain in effect until the end of next year, when a new FOP contract is expected to be ratified by the City Council. The council last month delayed a vote on a $5,000 retention bonus for all commissioned officers, with a majority of the council siding with Mayor Brandon Whipple. The mayor said he would not vote for the bonuses unless they were presented alongside policy changes recommended by Jensen Hughes that aim to improve police culture. The new amendment to the FOP contract includes the $5,000 bonuses, which will cost the city at least $3.4 million. The bonuses are slated to go to eligible employees by Friday, Dec. 8, on top of a $1,000 retention bonus already scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023. Employees do not have to stay with the department beyond this week to receive the bonuses. Under the FOP contract approved in 2021, police officers were scheduled to receive a 1.5% raise in 2024. The new proposal will give them 13.27% raises effective Dec. 23.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Two equipment failures caused sewage water to pour into Wichita creek, spiking E. coli
Two failures at a Wichita sewage site caused 1.7 million gallons of sewage to overflow into a nearby creek, spiking the levels of E. coli in the water, Wichita Public Works and Utilities Director Gary Janzen said Tuesday. “There’s no public health risk expected but residents are being urged to stay out of the creek and pond areas and keep their pets away from the water,” he said. “There’s no public health risk to the city’s drinking water or anyone walking or living by the creek, nor is there any anticipated impact to aquatic life or local wildlife.” A resident reported the overflow of sewage Sunday morning. It happened in northeast Wichita. On Saturday, a pump failure at a sewer lift station west of North 127th Street East, near Founder Circle, caused a manhole to overflow and pour into Four Mile Creek, near the Redbud Path. The pump has been fixed and is working properly, he said. “To add to that … our alert system that would normally alert staff that there was a problem was also not working at the same time, resulting in this overflow, unfortunately,” Janzen said during a news conference.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Fitness installation planned for city park named after Wichita veteran
A park in Wichita’s North End named after a Hispanic veteran from the neighborhood is on track to be developed after sitting empty for 14 years. The park, at 25th Street and Wellington, will have fitness equipment, artificial turf and a flagpole to honor veterans. “I just know that the whole thing would mean a lot to my dad. Being a North Ender, a Hispanic and a veteran,” Patrick Garcia II said in a phone call. “That checks all the micro groups that one can be a part of and this thing would just put a really put a giant smile on his face because he liked spending time outside.” Patrick D. Garcia grew up in the area of 23rd Street and Park Place after moving from Garden City with his family. He served in the U.S. Army from 1968-70, then returned home to attend Wichita State University. His work in the public sector included being an assistant to former U.S. Rep. Daniel Glickman and a U.S. Department of Justice Immigration officer. He died in April 2000 at the age of 50 from complications of a brain tumor.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
100 electric scooters, child car seats, other items pulled from Arkansas River in Wichita
About 100 electric scooters, roughly 50 skateboards, child car seats, shopping carts, bicycles, light fixtures, speakers and other items were pulled from the Arkansas River near downtown Wichita last week. The city lowered the river roughly 2 feet to make “some minor modifications to the fish ladder/boat pass in order to reduce long term sediment build-up,” the city said in a news release. Veo took advantage of the lowered river to get out its rental scooters and other items. Veo operations manager Steven Miller said they also had volunteers from Boats & Bikes and Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams help with the cleanup on Tuesday and Wednesday. They spent about 250 person hours. Miller said some of the scooters were several years old. There were also about 100 skateboard and a 12-foot chain link fence that they weren’t able to get to with a grapple hook. Walking out into the muddy slush would be nearly impossible, he said. “It’s not a scooter problem. It’s just a problem with bad actors doing bad things, and it’s unfortunate,” he said, adding he wishes he had an area of river like Wichita does where he lives in Oklahoma. “It’s such a pretty area to go out and enjoy time with your family and friends. I don’t know what drives people to do those kinds of things but it is just sad to see that people want to destroy the nice parts of the city and/or vandalize property. It’s just sad.” He said the scooters had been accumulating for as long as five years.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Frontenac’s new mayor and councilman get to work
As soon as they were sworn in, Steve Morrison and Nick Hansen got to work. Morrison begins his two-year term as mayor, replacing David Fornelli, while Hansen has taken Mike Snow’s position as a councilman for the First Ward for the next four years. First up on the agenda was approving payment of the first $750 annual membership fee in the Southeast Kansas Library System. Library Director Seth Nutt said this is the first step in getting the library operational as it allows him to access software to process and label the 6,000 books the library currently holds. Nutt said there will be a further courier fee after the library opens that facilitates inter-library loans. Councilman Joe Martin asked about progress on blueprints for the library. Nutt said he has been waiting on cost estimates from the architect but is hopeful that blueprints will be forthcoming within a couple of months. The council moved on to public hearings on two condemnations. Courtney Phillips, the owner of 104 N Labette, provided the council with before and after pictures. The property has been occupied by squatters who vandalized the home, even stealing the heating and air-conditioning unit.
Source: Morning Sun
More people are moving to and staying in rural areas, but that’s true only for parts of the Midwest
Brad Gabel, a native of California, came up with the perfect catchphrase for his bakery. “Bringing big city tastes to a small town, Iowa,” Gable said. Gabel now lives in Orange City, a community of about 6,000 people in the northwest corner of the state and runs Brad’s Bakery Bistro. “I was able to adapt easily to Orange City, even though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, because I got involved in the community, whether it was with the church, community organizations or local businesses,” he said. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture called Rural America at a Glance shows the population in rural areas is rising after a decade of decline. The average growth across the country was a quarter of a percent for rural counties – defined as those with cities of up to 50,000 people – from 2020 to 2022. However, not all areas experienced the same increase. John Cromartie, a geographer in the USDA’s Resource and Rural Economy Division and one of the study’s authors, said the trend is more visible in the South, the Northeast and West and less in the Corn Belt or Great Plains. “Because the population is, on average, much older, you don’t have as many younger people having kids, and it’s harder to attract those kinds of families,” Cromartie said. “They have higher rates of natural decrease compared to other states due to an older population.” Cromartie’s research shows only part of the rural Midwest saw gains, mainly fueled by people leaving major cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others retired and moved to resort areas, including the Upper Great Lakes and Ozarks.
Source: KCUR News
Municipal Bond Trends for December 5, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.
Municipal Bond Trends for December 4, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.
U.S. 54 project in western Kansas delayed
A project on U.S. Highway 54 near the Ford/Kiowa County line has been delayed. The Kansas Department of Transportation says the project to install new passing lanes one mile east of the Ford/Kiowa County line and west of Mullinville began in October. However, a portion of that work that was going to require detouring traffic off of the highway scheduled to begin in the middle of December has been pushed to start on January 8. The work involves a roughly two-mile stretch of the highway. Starting around Jan. 8, drivers on U.S. 54 will be directed to a detour onto Kansas Highway 34 and U.S. Highway 400.
Source: KSN Local News
Another drop in Kansas sales tax on groceries is coming January 1
Kansas is about to implement another drop in the state’s sales tax on groceries next month. Gov. Laura Kelly signed the “Axe the Food Tax” legislation in May 2022. The law dropped the tax from 6.5% to 4% in January 2023. It will drop again to 2% on January 1, 2024 and to zero in 2025. Kelly said previously that the lower sales tax will save taxpayers about $740 million over the three-year reduction. She said a family spending $200 a week on groceries was expected to save $208 in 2023. The lower rate applies to food, food ingredients and certain prepared foods. Shoppers can expect to see two tax rates on their receipts, one for qualifying items and one for other items. The state’s rate does not account for additional city and county taxes.
Source: KAKE News
Fed Chair Powell calls talk of cutting rates ‘premature’ and says more hikes could happen
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday pushed back on market expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts ahead, calling it too early to declare victory over inflation. Despite a string of positive indicators recently regarding prices, the central bank leader said the Federal Open Market Committee plans on “keeping policy restrictive” until policymakers are convinced that inflation is heading solidly back to 2%. “It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,” Powell said in prepared remarks for an audience at Spelman College in Atlanta. “We are prepared to tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so.” Expectations that the Fed is done raising rates and will move to an easing posture in 2024 have helped underpin a strong Wall Street rally that has sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 8% over the past month to a new 2023 high.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Kansas and Missouri have 256,000 lead pipes. EPA wants them removed within 10 years.
An individual holds a lead pipe, a steel pipe and a lead pipe treated with protective orthophosphate. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule requiring water utilities to remove lead pipes decades after new ones were banned. (EPA) Utilities in Kansas and Missouri would have to pull hundreds of thousands of lead pipes out of the ground within 10 years under a proposed rule the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. The EPA announced a proposed update to the lead and copper rule strengthening President Joe Biden’s earlier goal of eradicating lead pipes. The proposed rule also would lower the limit on lead in water by one-third. “Lead in drinking water is a generational public health issue, and EPA’s proposal will accelerate progress towards President Biden’s goal of replacing every lead pipe across America once and for all,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. For much of the 20th Century, utilities were permitted to install lead service lines, the pipes that carry water from water mains under the street into homes. The EPA banned them in 1986, but utilities have never been required to remove existing pipes. In fact, some utility companies don’t know where the remaining lead service lines are. Estimates as to how many remain vary widely. The EPA estimates Missouri has 202,112 remaining lead service lines while the environmental nonprofit the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates more than 330,000. In Kansas, the EPA estimates 54,107 lead pipes remain while the NRDC believes there are more than 160,000.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Colwich residents asked to avoid flushing “flushable” wipes
Residents in Colwich are being asked not to flush “flushable wipes” because of a backup in the city’s sewer system. The city reported the problem on Tuesday and put a post on social media showing the effect of flushable wipes on sewer systems. The post is asking residents to flush only toilet paper. The city also posted a graphic saying that such items as paper towels, disposable diapers, dental floss, plastics and cigarette butts should not be flushed down the toilet.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Municipal Bond Trends for December 1, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.
Overland Park developing pilot to encourage more diverse housing
Overland Park, like many other Johnson County cities, is exploring ways to encourage more diverse housing options for its current and future residents. City staff and a team of consultants from MBL Planning are developing a pilot program that aims to make it easier to get such projects through the planning process with something called pattern zoning. Under the pilot program, Overland Park would keep a collection of 24 pre-designed homes that are “permit-ready,” Planning and Development Services Director Leslie Karr said. Those designs would be available for any resident to use for free on any lot in the city that carries the corresponding residential zoning designation. She said that this pilot, once it’s active, can really simplify the process and open the market up to smaller developers or private citizens who want to build this type of housing but might lack the money to get through the traditional permitting process.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Governor Kelly Announces Nearly $15M Available to Connect Kansans to Digital Devices and Public Wi-Fi
Governor Laura Kelly announced today that applications are open for the Advancing Digital Opportunities to Promote Technology (ADOPT) program. A total of $14.7 million in grant awards will be available to organizations addressing the challenges of broadband accessibility, affordability, and device availability. “Every Kansan deserves the opportunity and the resources to thrive in today’s modern economy,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “By increasing access to the internet through devices and public Wi-Fi, ADOPT is equipping Kansans with the tools necessary to participate and compete in our highly connected world.” More than 153,000 Kansans are without high-speed internet subscriptions because of barriers such as infrastructure limitations, affordability issues, and lack of access to devices and technical support. The Kansas Office of Broadband Development (KOBD) is rolling out the comprehensive ADOPT program to combat these challenges. “Expanding broadband access by bringing public Wi-Fi and digital devices to underserved areas will open doors to education, remote work, health care, and more,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “This game-changing program ensures reliable access for those who need it most — which not only connects communities but fosters economic growth.” ADOPT is divided into two key categories: Equipment Distribution and Public Wi-Fi.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
EPA releases proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday released its proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). The expected proposal would amend the 2021 Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and establish new mandates for lead pipe including a requirement for U.S. water systems to replace all lead service lines within 10 years. The proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements will reduce the lead action level and amend tap sampling protocols utilized by water systems. Key provisions include achieving 100% Lead Pipe Replacement within 10 years, locating legacy lead pipes, improving tap sampling, lowering the Lead Action Level, and strengthening protections to reduce exposure. The proposal would also require water systems to communicate more frequently and proactively with consumers about lead service lines and the system’s plans for replacing the lines. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements are central to the whole of government approach detailed in the Biden Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan. The Biden EPA has also touted its $15 billion investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace lead service lines, provide technical assistance to communities, and support the development of a national inventory of lead service lines.
Source: Water Finance & Management
Governor Kelly Announces $28.5M for High-Speed Internet Infrastructure
Governor Laura Kelly announced today that $28.5 million in grants were awarded to 12 entities through the Lasting Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (LINC) program. The LINC program provides strategic funding for crucial aspects of broadband connectivity to reduce the cost of internet service, increase availability, and improve performance. “LINC is another step forward in our promise to connect all Kansans, including in rural areas, to high-speed internet,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “We are empowering communities with high-speed broadband infrastructure, unlocking greater economic growth, increased access to telemedicine, and expanded educational opportunities. ” With matching funds from service providers, the total broadband investment in LINC is expected to surpass $33.9 million. LINC will provide opportunities for increased internet adoption by focusing on funding for Broadband Infrastructure, enabling end-user locations with a minimum of 100/20 Mbps speeds, Internet Exchange Point facilities to improve the overall internet access service quality for all Kansans, and Middle Mile infrastructure to reduce overall costs in delivering broadband to end-users. “As we continue to lead the nation in business development, robust broadband becomes even more critical for attracting new businesses and remote workers to the state,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “We will continue to work with partners across Kansas to ensure all communities have the high-speed broadband they need to compete and succeed.”
Source: Governor of the State of Kansas